Sunday, January 4, 2009

People all over the world chose to "re-new" their goals and resolutions on New Years Day. The fact is that you can start "a-new" ANYTIME of the year. My hope here is, by sharing what I have learned and what has worked for me, you will find your own path to a simpler life.

We will start by doing a brief "life audit" of our regrets and our blessings.

Most of us try to set realistic goals, but go about trying to realize them, well, unrealistically. I don't need to revamp what every magazine cover in January boasts about eating healthy, or exercising more - we all know we need to do that - what I want to focus on is just as important as your health - your true self. I truly believe that if you are content with your inner-vision, you will make the changes to find contentment with the way you see your body.

Over the past few years, many "gu-rus" spout that a "cluttered home is a cluttered mind" or a "cluttered mind is a cluttered life." I, for one, adhere to this. On the material end, if you have alot of clutter around your home or personal space, it's hard to work, relax, and rest with all that stuff in your way. On the spiritual side, it's hard to work, relax and rest with your mind jumbled with too many thoughts crowding around! David Allen has a wonderful book, "Getting Things Done" that goes into more details on learning to get rid of the jumble in your mind and I recommend you read it, and I will be consolidating Mr. Allen's theories with many other authors for my own life audit program.

The first thing I recommend you do is start a "Life Audit." British author Caroline Righton has a wonderful book, "Life Audit," ( http://www.thelifeaudit.com/) that takes you step by step, in painful detail, how you spend you time. Similuar to a money audit, you are looking at where you spend your time and how you can find more time to do what you want to do. While I recommend you take a look at this book too, I have modified the process here.

Similar to a home inventory, you will be "taking inventory" of your life. Hopefully by the end of this process, you will have a better view of your health, your money, your lifestyle, your dreams, your regrets and use these findings to make steps to improving your life overall. It starts with small steps, not unrealistic jumps.

Let's begin......with the hard stuff -

This week I want you to think about three things. It wouldn't hurt to write them down, but you don't have to. First think about what you regret most in your life. It could be something you've done or something you wish you had done. Next, think about what you could have done to change those regrets and Third, what you can do now to change those regrets into positive things. For example, I wish that I had spent more time with my grandmother when she was in the nursing home. I was a new mom but I also only lived 15 miles from where she lived. I hated seeing her in her condition, hated to take the baby over there and just didn't take the time. I regret that I didn't put HER before ME. I could have gone more often then, but now she is gone and I cannot change it. What I CAN change is visit my other grandmother more often and learn to give my time unselfishly.

By dealing with your regrets FIRST, then you can clear those off your mind and move on to more positive things - like clearing out your clutter!

More on clutter later, for now I just want you to think about these things and move on from them. Whether you talk to those you've offended or just cleanse your soul internally, let's prepare ourselves to get moving.

A few tips for this week's start: Think big and small when coming up with your regrets. Some will be obvious such as mine, but others may not be at the forefront. Really think about how important each event on the list is TODAY. If you can't change it, learn from it. If you can - then be brave - and change it. If you need to put it away for a stronger day, then do so. Just move away from it.

When you are ready, the next step is to count your blessings. Continued next week....Visit my website for more in the series www.thekendalcompanies.com